Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40936900›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in immunology2025

Early-life undernutrition, immune dysregulation, and cancer incidence in later life: a national life-course analysis from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.

Hailin Wang, Changkang Wu, Xuancheng Zhou, Gang Huang, Jingdong Li, Xiaowei Tang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Hailin Wang *Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
Changkang Wu *Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
Xuancheng Zhou *Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China.
Gang HuangDepartment of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China.
Jingdong LiDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
Xiaowei TangDepartment of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Severe childhood famine may imprint durable immunometabolic scars, yet its longitudinal impact on chronic inflammation and cancer trajectories in China's ageing population is unresolved. Methods: We analyzed 2-515 adults in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2015) who were born 1947-1961; early-life undernutrition was assigned when birth occurred during 1959-1961 and in one of five provinces with > 30% grain deficit. In parallel, an independent hospital-based verification cohort of 82 adults (recruited 2024-2025) underwent identical exposure classification, biomarker sampling, and cancer surveillance for external validation. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), white-blood-cell (WBC) counts, and physician-confirmed malignancies were the prespecified outcomes. Multivariable logistic and Cox mixed-effects models, with interaction terms, quantified dose-response relations and effect modification; estimates from both cohorts were pooled with inverse-variance weighting. Results: Forty-one percent of CHARLS respondents met undernutrition criteria. Compared with unexposed peers, exposed adults showed higher mean hs-CRP (3.18 ± 2.36 Conclusion: Developmental caloric deprivation leaves a lasting inflammatory fingerprint that translates into excess mid-life cancer burden. Life-course screening for famine survivors coupled with anti-inflammatory and nutritional interventions will curb malignancy risk as China's cohort of famine-exposed elders expands.

Indexed as

MalnutritionNeoplasmsAgedBiomarkersChinaC-Reactive ProteinFemaleHumansIncidenceLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedRisk FactorsBiomarkersC-Reactive Proteincancer incidencechildhood famine exposurechronic inflammationearly-life undernutritionimmune functionnutritional deprivation

Identifiers

PMID40936900
PMCPMC12420247

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.